Page 30 - SAMPLE Running Out of Time

I wake up from dreams of panic; seabirds screaming and the black water sucking me in. Ronnie kicks at my feet from where they are sticking over the end of the sofa and I lurch forward with wide eyes.
“Time to get up,” he says.
My back hurts. I pull the thin blanket around my shoulders. “Is there any news?” I ask. “What time is it?”
He pulls back the grimy curtains and grey light spills into the room. “Ten o’clock, and there is no news,” he says. “But you must speak English now, even to me. Is your English good enough?”
“My English is perfect,” I say in English.
He grunts and steps into the light. Blond hair cut short, stained white teeth, the tattoo of a dragon winding out of his white shirt collar up his neck, ready to breathe fire.
He perches on a hard wooden chair and stares across at me. “It’s time to go,” he says.
“I need to find my dad ...” I start, and when I say the words I feel so sick I can hardly finish the sentence. “Otherwise it’s all been for nothing.”
He shakes his head. “If your dad’s alive he’ll be with the authorities. But it will take a week before you
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